Apparatus for gaseous metal plating fibers



May 19, 1959 H. R. NACK APPARATUS FOR GASEOUS METAL PLATING FIBERS Filed Aug. 16. 1954 TK NCP/S EA Y VN E m N R O m n M A Rk/ E H United States Patent APPARATUS FOR GASEOUS METAL PLATING FIBERS Herman R. Nack, Troy, Ohio, assignor to The Commonwealth Engineering Company of Ohio, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application August 16, 1954, Serial No. 449,990

2 Claims. (Cl. 118-48) This invention relates to metallized materials suchas fibers, filaments, fabrics, tapes and the like, and is parheated strand of the material longitudinally through the swirling atmosphere at a relatively high rate of speed to insure of adequate decomposition of the gas and the metallization of the filament. The swirling atmosphere provides to the advancing heated material a continuously fresh atmosphere of the metal bearing gases and provides for the rapid removal from the area of the material of gases of decomposition which otherwise would tend to obstruct the ingress of the plating gas to the material.

An important object of the invention is to provide apparatus in which a swirling atmosphere of a gaseous decomposable metal bearing compound is provided by high speed rotation of a tubular body containing the atmosphere.

A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus in which a strand of material to be metallized is fed lengthwise through a swirling atmosphere of a heat decomposable metal bearing compound.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide apparatus in which the operation of the apparatus itself provides a suction pressure for drawing metal bearing gases into the metallizing chamber of the apparatus for contact with a strand of material passing therethrough.

Still another object of the invention is to provide apparatus in which a strand of material to be metalliied is fed lengthwise and substantially transversely through a swirling atmosphere of a heat decomposable metal bearing compound.

The invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a schematic elevational view of the apparatus of invention adapted for the passage of a strand of material therethrough;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the rotatable tubular body employed in the apparatus of invention;

Referring to the drawings, there is shown at 1 in Figure 1 a rotatable tubular support member which may be suitably of metal or of a transparent material such as glass if it is so desired. The member 1 is supported by "ice , v 1 2 7, 9; support for the ball bearings is provided by a stationary cylindrical housing 11 as noted below.

At the left end of the figure as shown. the end member 3 has a shaft 13' which extends through the center of the ball bearingrace 7 and which shaft is itself hollow. The ball bearing 7 is retained in a pair of discs 15 and held in place by a flange 17. The discs 15 are most suitably retained in place by forming a V-groove be tween them and filling the groove with a rubber grommet 19; the discs are then screwed together by means of screws 21. The grommet is by this action expanded to make a tight joint against the inner wall of the housing 11. End member 5 is similarly supported by hearing 9. The members 15, 17 at each end of support member 1 are thus retained in astationary position as is the housing 11, while the hollow tube 13 is rotatably mounted.

Leftwardly a second bearing structure secured to the inner side of the housing 11 is similarly provided and is indicated generally at 23. This bearing structure rotatably supports shaft 25 which is coupled as at 27 to a motor 29.

Shaft 25 carries a gear 31 which is leftwardly of :a pulley 33 supported from the interior'of the housing by an angle strut 35; shaft 13 carries a gear 36 and an idler gear 38, eccentric to pulley 33, is supported rotatably at 12 from the housing.

Between the bearing members indicated at 7 and 23 there is provided a narrow spacing in which pulley 33 is mounted and pulley 33 may be eccentric to or on the axis of the'shaft 13 as desired.

Cylindrical housing 11 is formed in two parts 11 and 11' secured together and defining an aperture at 37 for the passage of a filament between-the portions 11 and 11 over the pulley 33, through shaft 13 into the tubular support member 1. Outside of the housing 11 heating rolls 39 provide for the heating of the filament as it passes from the reel mounted at 41 into the apparatus (not shown) is passed into the spacing 43 through the inlet 45. This spacing 43 is provided with stationary partition members 49, 51 which divide the peripheral spacing 43 into two substantially equal portions.

' The member 1 is itself provided with a plurality of apertures 53 (Figure 2) and accordingly gas flowing i11- Wardly through the conduit 45 and contacting the rotating member 1 will be drawn into the interior of the rotating member by the rotation; provision of a vacuum transverse to the path offilaments system at the remote end of the conduit 47 (not shown) places a vacuum pressure on the outlet portion of the system and gases are drawn through the rotating'memher 1 to the outlet 47 thereby. This vacuum also inhibits the passage of gases from the member 1 through the filament-passing apertures in the end members 3,5 and occasions a flow of the plating gas which is generally passing through the apparatus.

A filament such as indicated in Figure 1 at55 passing rightwardly through the apparatus, having been heated by the rolls 39',- contacts the heat decomposable gas in the interior of the member 1. and causes thermal decomposition oftthe gasto eifect a .metal deposit on the rapidly moving filament.

end members 3, 5 welded thereto, and byball bearings;

The filament passes outwardly over a supp ort roll to be reeled on a bobbin 59 rotatably supported at 61 and driven in rotation through suitable power transmission mechanism indicated at 63. Most suitably this mechanism includes a variable speed arrangement, the

of drawing of the fibrous material 55 through the apparatus is provided for.

In the inventive process the operation of motor 29 effects the rotation of the tubular shaft 25 and through theidler gear 38 effects the rotation of the tubular shaft 13 and hence of the member 1 which is secured to the tubular shaft as at 67. This rotation causes a vacuum pressure at the inlet end of conduit 45 and gas is drawn rapidly into the chamber and also through apertures 53 to provide a concentrated swirling atmosphere of plating gas. The imposition of the vacuum pressure permits gas to be withdrawn constantly and provides for'the expulsion of gases of decomposition. Thus the fibrous material 55 in filamentary form passing through the member 1 is continuously exposed to a swirling atmosphere of fresh plating gas and uniform deposition of metal 'over the fibers passing longitudinally through the plating chamber defined by the member 1 is assured.

The material to be plated in this arrangement may suitably be light wire, glass fibers, or synthetic materials 'such as Dacron, Orlon, nylon, it being only necessary to regulate the temperature of the rolls 39 in order to accommodate the material to the procedure.

The speed ofrotation of the member 1 may suitably be between about 300 r.p.m. to 1800 r.p.m. for filamentary materials. For tapes wherein the surface area exposed to the plating gas is larger than in filaments this speed may suitably be increased to 2000 rpm-3000 rpm. to provide equivalent metallic deposition in a given unit of time.

The speed of drawing of the filaments and tapes is preferably between about 25-300 feet per minute. This speed is correlated with the temperature of the heating rolls 39 to produce a temperature of the filament in Example 1 Glass fiber .rovings were drawn through the apparatus as described and attained at the heating rolls a tempera ture of between about 450475 F. prior to entry to the plating chamber. The plating chamber through the outer stationary elongated housing is supplied with the swirling atmosphere of nickel carbonyl gas. The rate of gas flow through the housing is about 4 liters per minute at a temperature of about 78 F., the pressure internally of the chamber being only'very slightly less than that of atmospheric.

Thefiber was drawn longitudinally through this chamber at a rate of about 75 feet per minute and the chamber in this instance was suitably of such a length as to expose the fiber to the gas for approximately 4 seconds. Thereafter the metal treated fiber was wound and allowed to cool in'the atmosphere.

The nickel deposit under these conditions was sufficient to provide the glass fiber rovings with a conductivity of approximately 2500 ohms per inch and each of the filaments of the roving, which are approximately 1600- 000 in number, were uniformly coated.

Example II A twisted "fiber of Orlon was drawn through the plating chamber at a speed of approximately 100 feet per minute, the Orlon being'in'itially heated to a temperature of about 375-425 F. Iron pentacarbonyl was introduced into the plating chamber in the manner already described and a conductivity of about 4600 ohms .per inch of length was attained; the pressure of the iron pentacarbonyl being very close to that of atmospheric.

In this connection it is to be noted that in general it is most suitable to provide an undiluted plating gas at as close to atmospheric pressure as is possible. Such contributes to the formation of the swirling atmosphere and further enhances the plating operation due to the presence of the greater quantity of metal bearing gas.

The iron deposit on the Orlon is pure and provides a substantially noncorrosive coat.

Example III A plurality of nylon filaments heated to about 275 F. were passed through an atmosphere of nickel carbonyl at a speed of about 20 feet per minute. The optimum decomposition temperature of nickel carbonyl was substantially 375425 F., but the carbonyl does begin to decompose at much lower temperatures, and the swirling atmosphere within the chamber tends to increase the decomposition rate.

Under the conditions noted and With a high concentration of nickel carbonyl, that is very close to atmospheric pressure within the plating chamber, the ohmic resistance was about 6200-6500 ohms per inch.

It will be understood that this invention is susceptible to modification in order to adopt it to different usages and conditions and accordingly, it is desired to comprehendsuch modifications within this invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. .In combination, in apparatus for the gaseous metal plating of fibers from gaseous heat-decomposable metal bearing compounds, said apparatus comprising an elongated axially disposed stationary housing, a rotatable tubular member of smaller diameter than said housing and axially disposed within the housing and having a plurality of peripheral apertures in the side walls, means to rotate said tubular member Within the housing, the side walls of said member and housing defining a spacing therebetween, means for drawing into said spacing toward the apertures of said hollow member a gaseous heat-decomposable compound which is swirled about said hollow member into the interior thereof, and means for feeding a strand of material through said hollow member and lengthwise of the swirling mass of gaseous heat-decomposable compound whereby the compound is decomposed and metal deposited on the surface of the strand of material.

'2. In combination, in apparatus for the gaseous metal plating of fibers from gaseous heat-decomposable metal bearing compounds, said apparatus comprising an elongated axially disposed stationary housing, a rotatable tubular member of smaller diameter than said housing and axially disposed within the housing, said tubular member having apertures in the side walls through which the gaseous heat-decomposable metal bearing compound passes, means to rotate said tubular member within the housing, the side walls of said member and housing defining a spacing therebetween, means for drawing into said spacing toward the apertures of said tubular member a gaseous heat-decomposable compound which is swirled about said rotatable tubular member and through said apertures into the interior thereof, and means for feeding a strand of material through said rotatable tubular member and lengthwise of the swirling mass of gaseous heat-decomposable compound whereby the compound is decomposed and metal deposited on the surface of the strand of material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 260,247 Slattery June 27, 1882 1,059,057 Mason Apr. 15, 1913 (Other references on following page) UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,616,165 Brennan Nov. 4, 1952 1,784,611 P 1 t 1 D 1930 2,622,041 Godley D 16, 1952 1965 059 5211?? {if Jul 3 1934 2,684,206 Zeflel y 1954 1, 987:577 Moers Jan, 8, 1935 2,685,124 Toulmin 3, 1954 2,161,950 Christensen June 13, 1939 5 25995415 Naghtman 11, 1955 2,369,561 Grisdale Feb, 13, 1945 2,700,365 Pawlyk 1955 2,334,500 51 11 Sept 11, 5 5 Nack et ne 5, 1956 2,400,726 Wright et a1 May 21, 1946 2,785,651 Pawlyk 19, 1957 

